Trade Policies and U.S. Agriculture

Abstract

NOW, more than at any other time in this century, U.S. agriculture is dependent upon exports. The value of agricultural exports is approximately a sixth of the value of farm receipts, while the output of one out of every four acres finds its way into export markets. An increase in agricultural exports since 1960 has been a major element in the viability of farm programs of recent years. In the absence of expanded exports it would have been difficult to maintain net farm-operator income, let alone to achieve the increases of one to two billion dollars of the past 2 years, without a very substantial increase in governmental expenditures or politically unpopular increases in consumer prices. As Willard Cochrane [1, pp. 453-457] noted so ably a year ago at these meetings, current agricultural policy is operating within three important restraints-the two already noted plus the unwillingness of farmers to accept strict supply-control measures. In this setting, the expansion of exports has been of great significance to agricultural policy makers and farmers.